and then there was two

in a way, it’s kind of sad to see the malibu go this way…

…but so it goes.

it had a “known issue” whereby it leaked coolant into the oil. “known issue” in the sense that it’s all over the internet, but not something they were willing to do a recall on. quite the contrary – they kept that body style around, even after they’d made a new one, as the “malibu classic”…

…and y’all wonder why i drive a german car now.

i got it when the 1991 cavalier i’d had since 1992 cracked it’s block. star tickets, where i was working at the time, fronted me a grand in cash for the down payment, and we financed out the rest back in 2001 (it was, and i guess still technically IS, a 1998 model malibu). after driving the four banger for almost a decade it felt really good to get into a V6 again, even if it was front wheel drive. the car and i had some history – the beginnings of astrowhore, the beginnings of my stint (part i?) in corporate america, and the beginnings (and some endings) of relationships.

but then that issue reared it’s ugly head back in 2006. i had just left dell and it died. i had to get it towed and get a rental car. a couple days later i got a call – “we’ve got good news, and we’ve got bad news”. the good was that the stall out was just a clogged fuel filter and all in cost me under a bill to fix. the bad was the water in the oil indicating the head gasket was toast and lord knows how fucked the engine was. they put fresh, heavier oil in it and i tried to drive it home from the garage (about forty-five miles) but it only made it fifteen, the oil light came on, the engine went off, and never started again…

…ever.

i got it towed home still figuring i could save it. the next morning i started it and it kicked me around like a mule. not a good sign. i left it in the street in front of the house trying to figure out what to do as the rental, in short order, was turned in so i could get the camaro. the city red-tagged it as a junk vehicle around the time alex moved out in 2k7, so i just pushed it into her space in the car port and all was good. in the street it’s a “junk vehicle”, in your own garage it’s a “project car”.

and all was well. until i got the bmw.

that was when i figured the camaro needed to be under a roof (due to it being a soft top and all) so i put it in the carport and pushed the malibu out…literally…in october of 2011. a month or so ago the city decided to re-red tag it as now it was in the driveway, which no longer made it a “project car”.

i don’t see how that is exactly, but never mind that now.

so the month flew by and i found myself in a bit of a jam – but a nice guy with a bit of a hustler vibe (not in reference to the publication) had told me he’d give me “four hundred dollars…CASH” for it, but i needed the title. i hadn’t seen the title ever to my recollection, so my uncle and i met at the dmv to get a lost title only to find there was still a lien listed (even though there wasn’t one) so i had to call ford motor credit to get a letter, delaying the replacement title. the guy who wanted him still said “that was no problem” and planned on being here at noon yesterday, but the price had dropped to three bills.

i was cool with that.

before he showed up i cleaned the car out and actually found the ORIGINAL letter from FMC plus the original title. then noon turned into 2:30 or 3:00 and then that the guy that was supposed to haul it off no longer wanted to drive down but “i got another guy that’ll pay two hundy”. i said two-fifty, be here in under a half hour, or i’d just let the city haul the fucker off.

he was here in ten.

i was out the door soon there after, and while they still had to arrange a tow, i saw that as good – i really didn’t want to actually see it leave – that could be a bit of a bummer. when i left it was still here, when i got back it was gone.

and there we were. thirteen years after i got it, and over 150,000 miles added to the 70,000 it had when i got it, it was gone (keep in mind that 150,000 miles was done in just under five of those thirteen years)…and then there were only two cars here – the bmw and the camaro. and the guy also wants the camaro, but that sumbitch still runs (in theory) and the city ain’t tagging that so my price of $3,250 at a minimum is pretty fucking firm there. he wants to hear it fire up on tuesday (my next day off), so i guess time will tell…